# Sent a Steak Back to Kitchen and Got Same Steak in Return **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [September 19, 2024, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456 "2024-09-19T03:46:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/21 "2024-09-19T13:15:57Z")
I’ll add to the chorus of bafflement at the OP’s surprise. Sounds like business as usual to me. Related aside relevant to folks worried about this practice … Caveat: I’ve never worked in a restaurant, but I have been eating in them a LOT for 40 years, and have had many convo’s with many servers about how their game is played. I’m told that some restaurants have a policy that once something hits the customer’s table it’s theirs. Or more accurately it can’t become somebody else’s. e.g Table A orders onion rings and adjacent table B orders French fries at about the same time. The food runner (another modern abomination) goofs and drops the rings on table B. The folks at table B say “We didn’t order that; we ordered FFs.” In that situation the restaurant will _not_ pick up the OR plate and set it correctly on table A, even though nobody at table B has touched the food or the plate. Either it goes in the trash, or table B gets a gift of ORs. And meanwhile table A gets a remake of another plate of ORs. Does this sound familiar or plausible to any of the restaurant folks? I’m talking more corporate places than Mom’n’Pop greasy spoons. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/22 "2024-09-19T13:26:40Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > In my limited experience, it’s easy for the server to hear “well” when the customer says “rare,” especially when the restaurant is crowded and noisy. I don’t know the reason, just that it’s depressingly common for a restaurant to fuck a rare steak up but good. I don’t even bother pointing it out unless it’s completely out of the neighborhood of rare. I ain’t looking for a free meal or an extra steak, I just want to eat my dinner with my wife. The replacement steak is always frustrating because I don’t want to be eating 15-20min after everyone else, nor do I want to take it home and worry about reheating it (and that’s assuming we’re going straight home and it won’t sit in the car for another several hours). If the food is 30% of the bill then I guess it makes sense from the restaurant’s standpoint in the short term though it leaves me feeling extra disappointed in the overall experience. It’ll probably annoy me even more now that I know it’s being pushed on me as the most beneficial route for the restaurant. See, you people with undercooked meat going back to the grill have it easy 😃 ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/23 "2024-09-19T13:31:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Does this sound familiar or plausible to any of the restaurant folks? I’m talking more corporate places than Mom’n’Pop greasy spoons. I’ve never seen that when it happens instantly - for example, I say we didn’t order that while the server/runner is still there. Which makes sense because nothing has changed since the millisecond before the plate touched the table. What I have seen is the situation where there are multiple people at the table and it takes a few seconds to determine that no one ordered the onion rings and therefore nothing is said until the server turned away for a moment. Then , it’s either a gift or thrown out. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/24 "2024-09-19T13:36:26Z")
I was a cook at a middling quality family steakhouse at 17 or 18 (the long gone Mr. Steak). Throwing an underdone steak back on the grill was standard practice. Maybe it’s different at higher end steakhouses. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/25 "2024-09-19T13:39:12Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I don’t know the reason, just that it’s depressingly common for a restaurant to fuck a rare steak up but good. I don’t even bother pointing it out unless it’s completely out of the neighborhood of rare. I ain’t looking for a free meal or an extra steak, I just want to eat my dinner with my wife. Yeah, a proper medium rare is just not a thing in a lot of places. I ordered a medium rare burger the other day and it came back medium well, my wife ordered medium and her’s was a hockey puck. This is in rural Virginia where you can find absolutely beautiful local meat locals that can’t cook. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/26 "2024-09-19T13:51:42Z")
Since we’re online and the current state of discourse is one of war, part of me feels as though I should grow hostile, double down, and tell all of you just how wrong you are. But I bow to the infinite wisdom of the SDMB members and acknowledge I’m the weird one. Just to be clear, I wasn’t worried about germs or anything. It’s a hot grill and they’re putting raw meat on it anyway, so the returned steak didn’t present any danger. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/27 "2024-09-19T13:56:53Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > > [@Jophiel](#): > > > > Curiously, a couple of times I have ordered a steak rare and had it come thoroughly cooked. > > In my limited experience, it’s easy for the server to hear “well” when the customer says “rare,” especially if the restaurant is crowded and noisy. The server can write rare on the ticket, after that it’s up to the cooks. It’s usually their fault. Maybe the cook leaves it too long on the grill or gets multiple steaks mixed up. Could be the cook who plates the meal. They frequently take whatever is available to get the meal out to the table. Many people don’t bother complaining when their steak isn’t done right and if they don’t send it back the cooks don’t know or care. Then the serving staff has to listen to the complaints and get a lame tip. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/28 "2024-09-19T14:14:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Many people don’t bother complaining when their steak isn’t done right and if they don’t send it back the cooks don’t know or care. I’m one of those people for whom you can’t undercook a steak. I order “bloody”, black and blue," and “extra rare”. I’ll deliberately have a short conversation with the server assuring them that I really am OK with a cool red center. I still get served steaks that are barely pink inside. My theory (unencumbered by any hard data) is that more people complain about undercooked than overcooked steak. Restaurants get used to people who think medium rare means no “blood” or other moisture in the steak. So they overcook because that’s fewer complaints. Except in Europe. I discovered that when an Italian sever tells you the steak is cooked medium rare, it’s always decently rare without any special instructions from me. In the U.S., I once had a “rare” steak with only the barest hint of pink served to me and the server first insisted that it was indeed a rare steak, then insisted that state law didn’t allow them to cook the steak any less! That was one time I enjoyed digging my heels in and calling the bluff, regardless of how much it extended dinner time. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/29 "2024-09-19T14:24:16Z")
“Run it through a warm room”? ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/30 "2024-09-19T14:25:47Z")
“Wave it over the grill.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/31 "2024-09-19T14:27:42Z")
I’ve so far avoided saying things like “Just run the cow past a candle!” but maybe they serve a function beyond making the server roll their eyes… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/32 "2024-09-19T14:28:09Z")
I think you’re right. People don’t have a consistent understanding of what _rare_, _medium_, and _well_ mean and there will be fewer complaints about over cooked steak. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/33 "2024-09-19T14:31:13Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > “Run it through a warm room”? > [@ZonexandScout](#): > > “Wave it over the grill.” I’ve had some very good steak tartare and enjoyed it immensely, but my favorite steak is the extremely difficult to obtain black and blue, where the outside is seared and caramelized, but most of the center is close to raw. It requires an extremely hot grill and a deft touch. When it is achieved, it’s sublime, though I’m happy with a _true_ medium rare as well. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/34 "2024-09-19T14:32:39Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I like Texas Road House. Your first mistake. The only edible dishes at the Texas Whorehouse are the loaded baked potatoes and the caesar salad > [@Odesio](#): > > Was it unreasonable of me to expect a new steak on my plate? In this case no since due to the time it has already cooled down. If it were brought to your table hot and you **immediately** sent it back as undercooked, then throwing it back on the grill would be ok - because face it, it’s not like you were at Ruth Chris or somewhere comparable. If it were a high-end steakhouse I would expect to be given the choice between cooking my steak and getting it quickly or a new one and waiting. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/35 "2024-09-19T14:35:41Z")
My wife ordered something like that once by accident and I think it had a name — something like “Pittsburgh Style.” Ring any bells? ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/36 "2024-09-19T14:44:42Z")
While I agree that it’s acceptable to recook the steak, in the interest of customer service, they should have given you a new steak. This experience has likely soured you on dining at that restaurant. In the interest of keeping you as a customer, they should realize that an undercooked steak has disappointed you and negatively impacted the experience for you and the other people at your table. It’s their mistake, so they should go above and beyond to make it up to you. They could have asked if you wanted that steak cooked more (quick turnaround) or a new steak (more time). They don’t have to, but you also don’t have to eat there. There are many other mid-level restaurants which serve steak. Maybe next time you’ll instead go to one of the other ones where you enjoy the service more. I personally don’t think a twice-cooked steak tastes as good. I think it tastes drier after the 2nd cooking. I think a properly cooked steak cooked once tastes better than a perfectly cooked steak cooked twice. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/37 "2024-09-19T14:44:52Z")
aka Black & Blue Heavy sear outside. Not even room temperature inside. aka the perfect cook on a steak. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/38 "2024-09-19T15:03:31Z")
Yeah. Pittsburgh rare: > **[Pittsburgh rare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_rare)** > > A Pittsburgh rare steak is one that has been heated to a very high temperature very quickly, so it is charred on the outside but still rare or raw on the inside. The degree of rareness and the amount of charring on the outside may vary according to taste. The term "Pittsburgh rare" is used in some parts of the American Midwest and Eastern Seaboard, but similar methods of sear cooking are known by different terms elsewhere, including Blue Steak, Chicago-style rare and, in Pittsburgh itself, Pit... That article also mentions other names it goes by, like the aforementioned black-and-blue or blue, but it also mentions “Chicago-style rare.” As a Chicagoan, I have never heard this term before. (Which may make some sense, as being in Chicago, you wouldn’t necessarily use the “Chicago” descriptor, but I also don’t think Chicago is particularly known for liking its meats extra rare, either. Though I see the Pittsburgh rare etymology seems to be more metaphorical than any actual doneness preference in that city, so I guess with our slaughterhouse history, maybe that had something to do with it. Anybody else call it Chicago-style rare?) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/39 "2024-09-19T15:08:08Z")
While at a conference many years ago I went out to a restaurant with a couple friends I knew from way back. I ordered salmon. Got it, cut it open, clearly the bulk of the interior was raw. No thanks. Sent it back. Got it back. No change. Sent it back. Got it back. No change. What the what? By that time my friends were done so that was it. The ~~customer~~ chef is always right. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456/40 "2024-09-19T15:18:58Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Anybody else call it Chicago-style rare? I’ve heard of the term, but Pittsburgh is much more common. If I said Chicago, I’d feel like a dork just trying to work some hometown pride into the conversation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sent-a-steak-back-to-kitchen-and-got-same-steak-in-return/1007456.md?page=3)